Game apparatus



.No. 751,473. I PATENTED FEB. 9, 1904 W. H. & A. E. DENNIS.

GAME APPARATUS;

- APPLIOATION FILED MAY 27, 1903.

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I No. 751.473. PATENTED 1 313.9, 1904. W. H. & A. E. DENNIS.

GAME APPARATUS.

A APPLICATION FILED MAY 27, 1903.

NO MODEL. A 2 sHBETs sHEET 2.

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UNITED STATES Patented February 9, 19 04.

PATENT OFFICE.

WALDO H. DENNIS AND ARTHUR E. DENNIS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 751,473, dated February9, 1904.

Application filed May27,1903. Serial No. 158,965. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WALDO H. DENNIS and ARTHUR E. DEN IS, citizens ofthe United States, residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented acertain new and useful Improvement in Game Apparatus, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification, in which Figure 1 is a plan view showing thegameboard or field, the ball or game-piece being indicated in full linesin its positionat the beginning of the game and. the said game-piecevgame apparatus, andmore particularly to apparatus for use in playing agame simulating Rugby foot-ball.

Our object is to provide an apparatus by.

which a simple and interesting game can be played, said game veryclosely simulating the actual game of Rugby fdot ball, it being possibleto move thegamepi ceor ball not only forwardly and back wardlygbut alsoto one side of the field or theRother, as happens in an actual game offoot-ball.

A further object is to provide an indicator of simple construction bymeans ofwhich the movement of one part determines both the longitudinaland lateral movements of the game-piece. or ball.

To these ends and alsoto improve generally upon apparatus of thecharacter indicated our invention consists in the variousmatters'hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, A- represents the gameboard 'or field; B,the game-piece or ball; C, the indicator by means ofwhich the movements of the gamepiece are determined, and D the marker orlinesmen. The field is rectangular and of about the proportions of anactual foot-ball field or gridiron and is divided longitudinally intoyard-spaces by means of transverse lines 1 and 2, the lines; 2 beingheavier than the lines 1 or otherwise distinguished therefromEachfiveand indicating five-yard intervals. yard line is dividedtransversely at five-yard intervals, as by means of dashes 3/ A goal 4is suitably indicated at each end of the field,

said goal being of the width about proportionate to the width of thegoal in-an actual foot -ball field. The line 2, which extends across thecenter of the field, is preferably distinguished from all of the othertransverse lines in order that the center may be readily apparent to theplayers, this central line dividing the field into a half for eachplayer in the manner in which the actual foot-ball field is divided.

provided; but we prefer to employ one in the form of a Rugby foot-ballmounted on a Suit-' able base, as seen in Fig. 4.;

The marker D can be dispensed with, but is preferably employed, itspurpose being to indicate the position of the game-piece at certainstages of the game. For apurpose which will hereinafter be described thebottom of the marker is preferably of a length corresponding to thedistance between five-yard lines.

The indicator comprises a base 5, from the center of which rises a'post6, and a disk 7 is rotatably mounted upon the said post and is.preferably provided with a central knob 8, by

means of which the said disk can be readily spun or rotated. The disk 7is of less diameter than is the base 5, and the space upon said base 5outside of the periphery of the said disk is divided into radialdivisions 9. Each of said radial divisions 9 has an arrow 10 or othersuitable pointer at its inner portion and outside of p the periphery ofthe disk 7, whereby said arrow is adapted to point to a Suitable numberprinted near the edge of the rotatable disk. Each radial division 9 isalso'provided near the periphery of the said disk, but beyond the same,with numerals, as shown at 11, and printed in each division is the nameof some play in the game of Rugby foot-ball, together with any too . 7Of course any suitable game-piece can be other appropriate matter, suchas an instruction to add a given number of yards. The rotatable disk isprovided with an arrow or pointer 12, which preferably extends to itsperiphery, and has near its edge a series of radial divisions 13, eachof which contains a suitable number or the name of an appropriate play,such as Touch-down. Certain of the radial divisions are distinguishedfrom the others, as by being printed inadifferent color, and the twotypes of divisions are indicated at 13 and 13, respectively. Preferablyeach arrow 10 is in the center of the are which defines the divisionprovided with such arrow, and the numerals 11 are printed upon oppositesides of the said arrow. Ve prefer to provide diametrically oppositedivisions 9 with similar numerals and to place two arrows 12 upon thedisk 7 diametrically opposite to each other, so that when the disk comesto rest each of these arrows points to a numeral of equal value in thediametrically opposite divisions 9.

Such being the apparatus employed in the game, the manner of playingsaid game is now to be considered. Each player has a goal at the outerend of his half of the field, and it is the object of the game to workthe game-piece across his opponents goal-line, preferably through hisopponents goal. The game can be played for a stated length of time andthe player declared the winner who has scored the greater number ofpoints in such time, or the game can be played for a predeterminednumber of points and the player declared the winner who first makes suchnumber of points. Preferably the game is divided into halves, as is anactual game of foot-ball. To start the game, the ball or game-piece isawarded to one of the players and is placed upon one of the dashes 3 atthe center of the central line '2. The player to whom the ball has beenawarded must make the play kick-off, and he spins the dial to determinethe position into which the game-piece is to be moved as the result ofhis said play. After he has played the play passes to his opponent, whospins the dial to determine the movements of the game-piece, the playerpreparatory to spinning the dial announcing the play which he is goingto make (such as fake buck, crisscross, &c.) and also announcing whetherhe selects the right or left as the direction in which the piece is tobe moved laterally. After obtaining the ball on the play succeeding thekick-off the player with the ball is entitled to at least three spins ofthe dial, the ball being moved as indicated by the indicator after eachspin, and if by these three spins the player does not advance the ballfive yards or more the play passes to his opponent. As soon as theplayer has advanced the gamepiece or ball five yards he is entitled tothree more spins before losing the ball and loses the ball if he failsto advance said ball five yards or more from the point occupied by theball as determined by the indicator.

when the said three plays were commenced. The numerals in the radialdivisions 9 indicate the distances the game-piece is to be moved towardthe right or left, the direction being determined by the announcement ofthe player previous to spinning the dial, and the numerals in the spaces13 and 13 around the dial indicate the number of yards the game-piece isto be carried forwardly or backwardly, the numerals in the spaces of onecolor (a. g., white) indicating gains or movements toward theopponentsgoal and the numerals of the spaces of the other color indicating lossesor movements toward the players own goal. Assuming that the player whosegoal is at the right of the field as shown in Fig. 1 has the ball and isto start the game, said ball is placed as shown by full lines in Fig. 1and the player plays kick-off and spins the dial to determine themovements of the game-piece or ball as the result of his play,announcing prior to the spin the lateral direction selected by him as,for example, to the right. We will assume that the dial has been spun bythe player opening the game and has come to rest in the positionindicated in Fig. 2. The ball will therefore be moved forwardlytwentyone yards and will be moved ten yards to the right, the positionof the ball after the said play being indicated by the dotted lines inFig. 1. The play then passes to the second playerc'. e. in this instancethe player whose goal is at the left of the field shown in Fig. 1- andthis player places the marker or linesmen D along one side of the fieldand extending in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of saidfield, what may be termed the rear end of the bottom line of the markerresting at the point of the yard-line upon which the ball rests and saidmarker, because of its heretofore-mentioned width, extending five yardstoward the opponents goal. The second player then plays, and the ball ismoved Because of the position of the marker D and its relative width again of five yards or more can be at once seen, for as soo'h as the ballis carried beyond the forward end of the marker such a gain has beenmade. As soon as the ball is lost by a player, and the play thereforepasses to his opponent, the marker is moved to bring its rear end inline with the ball and to extend from said end toward the goal of thenew players opponent. The play continues until the ball is carriedacross the goal-line of one of the players. If a player forces the ballacross his opponents goal-line, he scores five points. The ball is thenbrought straight out to the fifteen-yard line and a try at goal is madeby playing a goal-kick, which to be successful must carry the ball overthe goalline and between the goal-posts in one play. If the play issuccessful, the player scores one additional point. After the try atgoal the ball is brought to the center of the field and kicked off bythe opponent of the player who has just scored. After playing a punt theball passes to the players opponent just as it does after playing thekick-off. If the player loses sufliciently to be compelled to carry theball back of his own goal-line, he has made a safety, and his opponentscores two points. After a safety the player making the same brings theball straight out to the twenty-five yard-line and kicks off, the gamethen being played according to the rules governing gle movable part hasto be moved but once in order to determine both the backward or forwardmovement of the game-piece and the lateral movement of the same.

We are aware that many minor changes in the construction, arrangement,and combination of the several parts of our device can be made andsubstituted for those herein shown and described without in the leastdeparting from the nature and principle of our invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A game apparatus, comprising a gameboard lined to simulate afoot-ball field, a gamepiece,and an indicatorconsisting of a base and aconcentric disk, the base and disk both having divisions and numbers,one of the parts being provided with characters indicating the plays tobe made, the relative positions of the spaces on one part with those onthe other indicating the transverse or longitudinal movement of thegame-piece.

2. A game apparatus, comprising a gameboard lined to simulate afoot-ball field,a gamepiece, a marker to record the movement of saidgame-piece, a dial to govern the movement of said game-piece, andconsisting of a base and a smaller concentric rotatable disk, the diskhaving numbers on the outer edge and means cooperating with the numbersto govern the movements of the game-piece, division-lines on the base toprovide divisions containing the instructions as to a particular play,said divisions being subdivided, said subdivisions containing numbers,indicating means between the spaces, and cooperating with the numbers onthe disk to indicate the backward or forward movement of the gamepiece.

3. A game apparatus comprising a gameboard representing a foot-ballfield, a gamepiece, markers to record themovements of said game-piece,and a dial to indicate the forward, backward and lateral movements ofsaid game-piece, said dial comprising a base and a smaller rotatabledisk, said base having divisions containing the names of plays used inthe game, said divisions being subdivided into smaller numbered spacesseparated by arrows, the rotatable disk having an arrow cooperating withthe numbered subdivsions for indicating forward and backward movement ofthe game-piece, and said rotatable disk also having numbered spaces onits margin, for cooperating with the first-mentioned arrows to indicate'the lateral movements of the gamepiece.

In testimony whereof we hereunto affix our signatures, in the presenceof two witnesses, this 23d day of May, 1903.

- WALDO H. DENNIS. ARTHUR E. DENNIS. Witnesses: I

GEORGE BAKEWELL, G. A. PENNINGTON.

